Escape to Beauty and Joy: Edible Flowers

March 4, 2024 | C.L. Fornari | Flowers

Grow some flowers that do double-duty in your garden!

One of the pleasures of this time of year is planning our gardens for the coming growing season, and nothing lifts our hearts more than flowers. If those flowers are edible as well as beautiful, you’ll be growing beauty and flavor all summer long. Here are some suggestions for edible flowers that are easy to grow from seed.

These flowers are edible and the seeds can be planted directly into containers or the ground.

Borage has a cucumber-like flavor

Borage is not only a beautiful blue, but has a flavor similar to cucumbers. Grow this plant in full to part sun, and plan on providing some support for the tall plants. Borage is also a favorite of bees, so it can be a good plant to include in vegetable gardens for attracting pollinators. Try using the flowers in salads, or float one as a garnish on your favorite summer beverage. Sow Borage seeds outside in mid-May.

Borage can be supported with a decorative obelisk or a group of thin bamboo stakes.

Dill is delightful for flavor and cutting

Dill seeds can be sown in early to mid-May on Cape Cod. The seeds should be scattered on the surface of the soil where you want the plants to grow since light helps with their germination. Pat the seeds in place and sprinkle gently with water. Keep the area moist while the seeds are germinating. Dill flowers are best eaten when they just begin to open. They are especially good in potato salad or on fish. If the flowers are older they look lovely in bouquets, and when allowed to go to seed you’ll often find new plants appearing in the same area.

Calendula petals brighten any dish

Although Calendula flowers don’t have much flavor, the petals are lovely when sprinkled on salads or other dishes. When putting flower petals on hot dishes, add them just before serving.

This large container was planted with assorted edible flower seeds in late May. The mix included bachelor buttons, borage, calendula, nasturtiums and sunflowers.

Dianthus is delicious

Dianthus flowers have a spicy, clove-like flavor and scent. The seeds are fine so don’t cover them very much – pressing them into the soil in a garden or container in mid to late May is good. Dianthus seeds germinate in about 10 days, so keep the area where they are planted moist while they sprout.

Blue bachelor buttons have fine flowers in early summer

Use these flower petals in salads or as garnish for drinks. This annual is a good one to pair with a later flowering plant such as nasturtiums, since the bachelor buttons tend to stop blooming mid-summer.

The orange and yellow nasturtium flowers, blue borage, bachelor button, and dandelion petals make this salad look like a party in a bowl. The greens are nasturtium leaves and garden grown lettuce.

Nasturtiums are versatile and a bit spicy

One of my must-grow annual plant is the nasturtium. Poke the seeds into the soil in early to the middle of May, and you’ll have flowers and leaves to enjoy all summer and into the fall. Nasturtiums love full sun and well-drained soil. If you plant the trailing or climbing varieties, you’ll have more flowers and leaves for your table. These plants can scramble around perennials, vegetables or other annuals.

These vining nasturtiums are lovely when grown with dahlias. And by the way, the dahlia tubers and flower petals are also edible.

Sprinkle flowers on a pizza just before you take it out of the oven. Here, nasturtium flowers were used, but bee balm (Monarda) flowers are also perfect for pizza since they have a flavor similar to oregano.

Don’t forget the herbs and vegetables

All of the flowers on herbs and commonly planted vegetables are edible, so don’t hesitate to pick the male zucchini flowers (they’re the ones on long, straight stems) or the lettuce that’s bolted and gone to blooms.

Male flowers have long stems with no swelling under the blossom. If you like stuffed squash flowers, pick the males after noon and cook them for dinner, but peak into them when you’re still outside to be sure that there aren’t still bees inside.

Posted in Flowers